Wednesday, September 30, 2015

Indiana State House Majority Leader Jud McMillin — invariably described as a “rising star” in the Republican party — has speedily resigned after a cellphone video of a sex act was reportedly sent to people in his contacts list. McMillin subsequently sent out a mass text claiming his cellphone was “stolen in Canada.” This should be good.

There’s very little information about the contents of the video or who received it, but McMillin abruptly resigned on Tuesday, with the Indianapolis Star reporting that he said in statement via email that he “decided the time is right for me to pass the torch and spend more time with my family.” He added, “Now I want to focus all of my attention on making my family’s world a better place.”

McMillin’s renewed interest in his wife and children — his Facebook page indicates he has four, including one just three months old — comes after said sexy video was sent from his phone. That was followed on September 21 by a weird apology from McMillin, who said anything “offensive” was not his doing:

“My phone was stolen in Canada and out of my control for about 24 hours. I have just been able to reactivate it under my control. Please disregard any messages you received recently. I am truly sorry for anything offensive you may have received.”

McMillin, formerly a lawyer, was elected to the State House in 2010 despite a previous scandal when he was an assistant county prosecutor, the Star reports. He reportedly became romantically involved with the complaining witness in a domestic violence case he was prosecuting; a local website claims the victim later sued him for emotional distress and legal malpractice, providing a PDF of what it says are the court document in the case. (McMillin doesn’t appear to have been sanctioned by the Indiana Bar Association.) He was also investigated by the Star in 2013 for financial conflicts of interest, accused of voting for a project his law firm would benefit from.

Raw Story points out that McMillin signed on to a “religious freedom” bill that would’ve allowed Indiana businesses to refuse to serve LGBT patrons, and advocated for drug-testing welfare recipients. His Twitter page has already been deleted, as has his page on the Indiana House of Representatives website. And the video, whatever it is, is probably going not going to remain a mystery for very much longer.